The evening of Friday, May 31 saw 350 runners of all ages and abilities take part in the
Rye Harbour Ekiden Relay 2019, which was the first of its kind in the South-
East.
The event was a tremendous success and raised almost £4,000 for the new Discovery Centre currently being built at the Nature Reserve by Baxall Construction (who entered two teams), on behalf of Sussex Wildlife Trust, with the
support of the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve.
Ekiden is a long-distance, multi-stage relay race based on a Japanese concept. At
Rye Harbour 50 adults teams of six runners competed over a total half-marathon
distance of 20 kilometres (just over 13 miles) and 10 children's teams of five runners ran five kilometres per team.
The Ekiden relay was organised by local company Nice Work and sponsored by RX Architects, WS Wright, Coast View Properties and Coast Pro Developments.
The winning teams, who were presented with special trophies, were: Adults 1st Half Blood Spirits 1h 18m 10s 2nd BRT1 1h 18m 47s 3rd Hastings Runners Darren’s Dynamos 1h 24m 10s
Juniors 1st Grassrunners Juniors 20m 4s 2nd Hastings Runners Los Juvenes 20m 21s 3rd When Life Gives You Lemons 21m 32s
Kim Deshayes, Appeal Director said, “What a fantastic turnout of 60 teams for a superb inaugural Ekiden event. Many thanks to everyone who took part, to the
sponsors for making it possible, and to Nice Work for their highly professional event organisation. It was great fun and a brilliant friendraiser and fundraiser for the Discovery Centre project".
More information and ways to support the appeal are on the Discovery Centre website.
